


Coffee by Moonlight

by Neon_Opal



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Chance Meetings, Coffee Shops, Conversations, Crushes, Dessert & Sweets, F/M, Fountain, Holding Hands, Kissing, Lectures, Nervousness, Night, Old Friends, Philosophy, Romance, Stars, Walking, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-12
Updated: 2014-12-12
Packaged: 2018-03-01 03:35:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2758082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neon_Opal/pseuds/Neon_Opal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neville and Luna run into each other at an academic lecture and decide to go for coffee and a walk where old feelings are finally revealed now that they each find themselves single again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coffee by Moonlight

~*~

Luna had run into Neville when she was out that evening attending a lecture about magical beasts of Northern Africa which also included a speaker on the magical plants that grew there. She hadn't seen him in quite a while and at that time they were each with their spouses and crowds of other people they knew. Not like here, at what many people would consider a dull intellectual lecture. He was doing well at Hogwarts as professor of herbology and approaching the mid-century mark in life seemed to be treating him well. He seemed fit and his hair was only slightly graying, so was hers but her grays were almost unnoticeable because they were very white. It seemed to give her hair a more ethereal look someone had told her. Nevil looked distinguished. Luna knew she probably looked like the wizard equivalent of what the Muggles might call a hippie or maybe a middle age Sybil Trelawney. It was nice to have a little chat with her old friend and it wasn't even that late.

"Shall we go for coffee Neville? There's a cute little place just around the corner." She asked looking at her old friend thinking it would be nice to actually sit and talk properly. She was often so solitary now. Even with her husband it was not the same as other people she used to know who understood what had gone on during the war; it connected them in a way she’d never could with her husband, having met him long after.

"That would be nice Luna and don't see any reason why have to be home right off, there's really no reason for it." He nodded in agreement.

He followed her out of the building and she led the way to the coffee shop and for some reason she took his hand and he smiled in surprise at the gesture of friendship that was so like he remembered her. The night was very clear; warm and pleasant with the slightest breeze.

"I love walking by moonlight even among buildings it's sort of magical don’t you think?" She said looking at Neville and swinging their hands back and forth as if they were 40 years younger.

Neville wanted to laugh a little bit but tried to stifle it. He wasn't sure if she would be sensitive about that now. Back at school she seemed to let everything roll right off her back. He had often wondered how, Luna, like him, was definitely not one of the more popular ones even though they both did well for themselves in the end of things.

Neville looked up at the sky. He wondered when the last time was that he had done that, stood there anywhere, to really look up at the sky.

"Have you ever been to see the aurora borealis?" Luna asked.

"No I've never been to a part of the world where it was visible. I've never been anywhere." Neville said to his old friend and feeling a sort of wistfulness at his own stayed life after the war compared to her adventurous one. She was so daring in her own way and he admired her for it. He wondered if he'd missed out on something. He looked at her there beside him feeling his hand in hers remembering how terribly he used to crush on her but how afraid he’d been to tell her or ask her out. He and been so shy about those things.

"I should take you some time if you want to see something magical that is as wonderful as anything the best wizards do and it does have its own magical properties. Even Muggles in certain part of the world believe it's good for conceiving children." She looked up at the sky. “There is Vega the 5th brightest star.” She told him as she gestured to a spot, “There is a very sad Japanese tale about that group of starts. Do you know it?”

“No, sorry. I never was much for astronomy or legends and mythology.”

“I guess it is not too unlike Romeo and Juliette if you know that one. There were two lovers wanting to marry but forbidden by their parents, destined to meet only briefly every 7 years in the 7th month, when a bridge forms between their stars.” She had tilted her head up to look at him and he wondered if she had some deeper meaning by telling the tale but they arrived at their destination before he could formulate a question to test it.  
.

"Shall we sit at one of the tables on the sidewalk?” Luna asked her him as they reached the coffee shop. "We can continue looking at the sky that way." She said pleasantly.

"Yes that's fine." He answered as they sat at a table and a waiter came up to hand them menus with all kinds of fancy coffees and desserts. He didn't know why he said it but the words escaped before he could think to stop them." Do you ever think it was the wrong life? That you or me, should have done something different? Did you turn right when you should've turned left? Made one choice instead of the other?"

Luna was very unfazed by philosophical conversation it was actually just her sort of thing Neville realized as he watched her pondering it along with the menu. Before she could answer the waiter came back and they placed their order. He wasn't even sure what his had been a second later. Maybe plain black coffee and shortbread biscuits or biscotti. Luna ordered something fancy sounding that he didn't understand.

"I don't think it really matters which way we turned. I think we always end up where we were meant to be, somehow. If were supposed to make a turn in another direction or an about-face we just suddenly do, even if we think it's the wrong direction at the time or not sure if is the right one. Or don’t even understand why we turned that way at all."  
The waiter brought their coffee and deserts and they were distracted for a while with tasting and commenting on the food. Nevil discovered he had ordered a strong Darjeeling and some shortbread dipped in chocolate on one side. Luna had ordered a coffee concoction smothered with a mound of whipped cream and dusted with coco powder and cinnamon along with a pyramid shaped chocolate mousse, which she fed him a taste of from her spoon after pronouncing it divine. He almost thought there was something a bit flirty about her manner in it but he was probably wrong. What a pretty thing she still was with the light fluttering hands and flowing hair, plus outstanding intelligence in spite of her manner that people often mistook as flighty. He dunked and nibbled at a couple cookies, totally distracted from what she was saying by watching her slurp off the whipped cream and lick her lips with a satisfied smile. Oh Great Merlin he was going mental to think like this at his age even though he knew through others she had gotten a divorce from her short marriage to Rolf.  
“Neville are you listening?” He heard her voice drawing him back to attention and wondered what he missed.  
“Are you going for a new look or have you been neglecting getting a haircut? I could give it a quick little trim with a spell if that is it.” Luna offered fingering her wand beside her. She had been studying him as they talked. He had always gone for a more conservative look but maybe age had changed him. But that was not the question he answered when he spoke.

""Do you think we each did the right thing then?" Neville asked bringing the conversation back around to where it was before their desert had arrived and Luna didn’t miss a beat.

"I think we always do but that's just my way of thinking." She told him reaching her hand across the table to rest it gently on his in a show of concern. He was even more handsome now she thought. Age did that to some people.

He still thought her just as beautiful and sweet and savvy now as when she was a teen ager as he looked at her hand touching his.

"Luna that night before the big battle I wanted to tell you something because I thought we were ultimately going to die before morning but then I never did..." He paused and put down his tea cup with a shaky hand. Luna noticed that he was no longer wearing a wedding ring. She realized he hadn't mentioned his wife or the separation as she watched his nervous work worn hand crush the remaining cookie on his plate.

"Shall we walk again? Would that help you to be moving? You can walk me towards home. There is a nice pretty square with a fountain on the way.”

“Yes, yes that might be good, very helpful." Neville stammered awkwardly and stood up stiffly. He felt as nervous as he had as a teenage as he tried to strengthen his resolve to tell her as they walked, what he had neglected to all those years ago. He had no idea what she would think but he felt like it was finally time he said it and besides, it wasn't like he ran into her every day. They could go another three years or more before they’d run into each other again. He left some money on the table by the dishes and signaled to the waiter as he threaded his way through the tables after Luna back onto the clear pavement.

 

"Now what was it you wanted to tell me all those years ago? It's obviously still been on your mind for you to think of it now." She asked Neville after they had walked in silence for a few blocks.

"I always admired you..." Neville trailed off again.

"I admired you too Neville you may not have believed in yourself but you always knew what was right in your heart and nobody was better at herbology in our year."

"Well thanks but… yes...umm… I don't exactly mean like that. Though I admired you that way too… don't get me wrong." Luna was looking at him a little perplexed even for her as they crossed the street and entered the park like square. After they were inside Luna stopped him and looked at him. she could hear the fountain gurgling and splashing just around the turning as she waited for him to speak. "Luna I liked you back then. I really liked you...you know...like that." he stammered stumbling on the words. "Merlin be damned, I am still so bad at this… just as bad as when I was teenager." He ran his hand through his hair in an agitated way and started walking again towards the center of the square striding ahead.

"You’re doing fine." She caught up with him and grabbed his hand again swinging him back around towards her.

"No. I'm sorry Luna. I'm sorry I shouldn’t have said anything." He tried to gently pull himself back away and he was surprised at how firm her grasp was.

"Neville wait! Be still!" She commanded softly and he seemed to deflate just a little but not in a bad way more like the agitation seeping away to be replace be calm. They were now near the fountain where there was a clearing in the square paved by slate flagstones. The moon and the stars were visible again above them to catch little crystals of light in the droplets of water as they burbled from the fountain. "Neville I liked you too. Like that, back then. I still do."

Neville was shocked at her words. He’d had no idea! Why had she never said anything? But then again why had he never said anything? He had no idea during their occasional casual conversation that she might be harboring an old crush and affection for him just like he was harboring one for her. He stood there not sure where to look, at the fountain which he realized to his chagrin was the naked Cupid or up the stars and the moon that she got her name from and told sad romantic stories about. He felt squirmy like a schoolboy and wondered if he should try to run away again.

Sensing his hesitancy Luna realized it was now or never. she put her arms around him, stood up on her toes and said,

"Neville Longbottom, I have been waiting more than half my life for you to kiss me and there is no time like the present." And with that she placed her lips softly yet firmly against his. She felt him relax at their touch and he put his arm around her. They stood in the center of the square in the center of their lives with certain things coming full circle after all this time.

 

The End

 

~*~


End file.
